It's dangerous to go alone!
Take this.
Shiny tools don’t make a successful business.
…but they sure can help!
Here is a list of some of the resources that I have found incredibly valuable in my own self-employment journey.
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Education & Community
Learn how to grow a message-based business alongside a tight-knit community of like-minded entrepreneurs. Platform Launchers teaches a grounded approach to turning a blog, podcast, YouTube channel, or other channel into multiple streams of income. The weekly member calls and online community offer the accountability and encouragement you need to take meaningful action.
DigitalMarketer.com offers some of the best training on paid search, email marketing, social media, community management, and more. Check out their growing library of courses and workshops taught by industry pros, and learn the skills and strategies you need to stay sharp in a quickly evolving marketing landscape.
⚙️ Subscribe to the FREE DM Insider Newsletter for weekly actionable marketing tips
Pat Flynn is my spirit animal. First of all, if you aren’t already familiar with the Smart Passive Income podcast, subscribe to the show right now! Then check out some of the amazing trainings that Pat and his team have put together on how to start and grow an online business. The SPI All-Access Pass is an incredible value that pairs premium courses with a premium community experience. I highly recommend it.
💵 Learn more about SPI All-Access Pass and other community options
Vincent Pugliese – author of Freelance to Freedom and The Wealth of Connection – teaches aspiring or struggling solopreneurs achieve financial freedom and flexibility through his high-impact. bite-sized, self-paced, and incredibly affordable lessons that guide you along the path to Total Life Freedom.
🌴 Join TLF School for just $1 for 14 days (and only $9/month after that)
Filing & Finances
Incfile is an easy an affordable solution for forming an LLC or other business entity. Their core service is free, but they offer a number of different packages
Formations saves me so much time and money by handling my bookkeeping and all of the other nitty-gritty work that goes into to staying compliant an S-corp. The tax savings I’ve unlocked with my S-corp election more than pays for the service.
See if an S-corp is right for you (and get 10% off AND 2 months FREE!)
You need a business bank account. Relay Financial offers one of the best. Zero fees, no minimum balance requirements, and a TON of awesome features – especially if you’re a fan of the Profit First method.
Open your FREE account and get a $30 BONUS when you sign up with my link
Bonsai makes back office tasks easy – if not down-right delightful. Bonsai has a beautiful interface and offers a full suite of tools for invoicing, sending proposals, tracking expenses, and more.
Build your website
Squarespace is one of the easiest and fastest ways to get up and running with a business website. Build something simple or something advanced like an e-commerce or membership site.
Hostinger offers solid shared web hosting at a great price. Tip: Spring for the “Business” plan (just $1 more than the Starter plan) to unlock daily backups, a staging environment, and caching tools (for a nice performance boost)
WPMU Dev offers premium WordPress hosting, a suite of premium plugins, and access to a great tech support team. This is my go-to hosting solution and I especially recommend it if you manage multiple websites, and ESPECIALLY recommend it if you manage multiple websites for different clients.
Elementor makes building WordPress websites easy. A free version is available, but the Pro version is well worth it as it unlocks a ton a great features and professional templates. Elementor also offers cloud hosting optimized for WP and Elementor.
Build your library
Disclosure of Material Connection: Some of the links in the post above are “affiliate links.” This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, we will receive an affiliate commission. Regardless, we only recommend products or services we use and believe will add value to our readers. We are disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.